Saturday, September 18, 1999
Birth father awarded custody of boy
Woman hid pregnancy, allowed adoption
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — Joseph Ferguson nearly lost the son he never knew he had.
It was only two days before an adoption agency tried to terminate his parental rights that Mr. Ferguson, of Tulsa, learned that he had a child.
Nearly two years of court battles later, Mr. Ferguson has finally received the right to bring the child called Brandon home. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of Mr. Ferguson in a custody battle with an Ohio couple who was trying to adopt 2-year-old Brandon.
The court decided unanimously that Mr. Ferguson “was deprived of notice of the pregnancy and the birth of his child and thus the chance to grasp his parental opportunity interest in his child.”
“This is one of the greatest feelings of my life,” Mr. Ferguson said after the high court handed down its ruling. “We just want to get Brandon home and go on with our lives.”
The child's mother, a Tulsa woman, met Mr. Ferguson at Oklahoma State University in August 1996. The woman was pregnant at the time she broke off the relationship five months later, court records show.
The woman concealed the pregnancy from her family and Mr. Ferguson, who had testicular cancer and was told he may never have a child. The woman then offered the child for adoption without consulting Mr. Ferguson through Hannah's Prayer Adoption Agency in Tulsa, according to court papers.
The baby was placed shortly after his birth in August 1997 with Steve and DeAnne Lee of Waynesville, Ohio. They were trying to adopt Brandon when Mr. Ferguson learned about the boy.
A message was left Friday for the Lees. Messages also were left with their attorney in Tulsa and the adoption agency's attorney.
In the Supreme Court ruling, the justices criticize the adoption agency for not trying to find Mr. Ferguson until three months after it learned he was the boy's father.
Mr. Ferguson found out about Brandon after Hannah's Prayer got his phone number from directory assistance and then left a message on his answering machine, court papers show.
“The duty to inform him rested initially with the Natural Mother and later with the Agency. Both failed to inform him despite the relative ease with which this could have been accomplished,” the Supreme Court ruled.
Mr. Ferguson, who had been meeting the Lees in St. Louis to visit Brandon, said he has no hard feelings toward the couple.
“I believe they entered the adoption process in good faith, and it's unfortunate that it had to come to this,” he said. “I'm not bitter toward them. I feel sorry for them.”
The Lees and an attorney representing Hannah's Prayer were not immediately available for comment.
Mr. Ferguson said he has not yet thought about granting visitation rights to the Lees.
“I'm just excited to have my son.”
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